Citation from The Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia by Barry Moreno (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000):
"The New Colossus": Emma Lazarus's now-celebrated piece of verse was composed at the request of her friend Constance Cary Harrison and American Committee chairman William M. Evarts for the Pedestal Art Loan Exhibition in December 1883. The original manuscript, written in ink and dated 2 November 1883, was included in the Pedestal Art Loan Exhibition's auction to help raise funds to build the State of Liberty's pedestal. The work takes the form of a classic Italian sonnet of fourteen line:
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land
to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall
stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her
name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild
eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities
frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your
poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the goldern door."
Although it cannot be said to have been in any way popular at the time of its appearance, its power was noticed, for it was occasionally printed in publications including the World and the New York Times, which ran the sonnet in October 1886 when the popularity of Liberty poems was particularly high. In 1887 (the year of Emma Lazarus's death), Ross Conway Stone quoted the sonnet in his book, A Way to See and Study the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. Impressed, he made this observation: 'As the navies of the world, guided by this light, pass by the mighty flambeau to our docks, the dullest star of lowliest immigrant is plainly told in the universal language of symbolism that he is in the land of liberty.' In 1888, 'The New Colossus' was included in The Poems of Emma Lazarus, published by Houghton Mifflin. The sonnet was largely forgotten afterward.
In about 1901, Georgina Schuyler, browsing in a bookshop, found an old book with the sonnet included in its text--possibly Stone's. She had known Emma Lazarus and was greatly touched by her late friend's poem. Schuyler, enlisting the aid of Richard Watson Gilder (another friend of Emma Lazarus), organized a civi effort toresurrect this lost work and bring it to public notice. She and her friend had it inscribed on a large bronze tablet and presented it in a formal ceremony to the army post commander at Bedloe's Island on 6 May 1903. It was mounted inside the pedestal for public display.
The sonnet was widely popularized in the late 1930s by such people as Louis Adamic and became even more popular during World War II. It was dramatically read in Hold Back the Dawn, a 1941 motion picture abut the plight of a refugee portrayed by French actor Charles Boyer. The tablet with 'The New Colossus' is currently mounted in the Statue of Liberty Exhibition gallery, Liberty Island." (pages 172 & 175)
Immigrants: The powerful impression that the Statue of Liberty left on millions of immigrants who enetered New York hrabor by steamship was an unexpected reward that would have made both Auguste Bartholdi and Edouard de Laboulaye proud. Although Bartholdi was deeply conscious of what he wanted the statue to look like from aboard ship, seeking a strong aesthetic impact at first glance, it is unlikely that he could have foretold its symbolism to immigrants. Their reactions to Liberty Enlightening the World were a mixture of wonder, awe, admiration, adoration, and even puzzlement, as these quotations show:
When we got to America, we saw the Statue of Liberty and Mother said to me in German: "That means we are free." Austro-Hungarian (emigrated 1910).
I remember we see Statue of Liberty. Gus ass me, "What's the statue?" And then we're looking . . . and his father say, "That's Christopher Columbus." And I put my two cents out. I say, "Listn, this don't look like Christopher Columbus. That a lady there." Grrek (emigrated 1911).
After thirteen days, we finally cam ehere and I was so happy that I was now in America. I saw the Statue of Liberty. And I said to myslef, "Lady, you're beautiful. You opened your arms,and you get all the foreigners here. Give me the chance to prove that I am worth it, to do something, to become someone in America." Greek (emigrated 1919).
When word got out that we were approaching land, everybody . . . ran on deck. We were packed like sardines, gazing with such excitement and wonderment. I saw the Statue of Liberty. It was so impressive, so majestic, so meaningful. Freedom! Opportunity! And most of all, it linked to us, America and France . . . we knew it was given to America by France. French (emigrated 1920).
When we were told we would be passing the Statue of Liberty, we all lined the deck. The thrill of seeing that statue there. And the tears in everybody's eyes. . . . It was more, not freedom from oppression, I think, but freedom from want. So that was the biggest thrill to see that statue there. German (emigrated 1920).
We were eleven days on ship. Whe we saw the Statue of Liberty, everybody started screaming and crying and hollering, they were just happy to see it, to be in America. Hungarian (emigrated 1921).
Some immigrants confused the Statue of Liberty with a Roman Catholic saint, proclaiming her "Santa Liberta," while others speculated whether she contained the tomb of Spain's explorer Christopher Columbus. Some were astonished and puzzled by her, while others had heard about the statue and were waiting for a glimpse. The Castle Garden and Ellis Island immigrant inspection stations came in the wake of Liberty's dignified welcome and left a bitter-sweet memory for millions who passed through to the states, towns, and rural districts of the United States (some to Canada), and to others who were rejected by immigration inspectors and returned by steamer to some foreign shore." (pages 117 & 119)
"The New Colossus": Emma Lazarus's now-celebrated piece of verse was composed at the request of her friend Constance Cary Harrison and American Committee chairman William M. Evarts for the Pedestal Art Loan Exhibition in December 1883. The original manuscript, written in ink and dated 2 November 1883, was included in the Pedestal Art Loan Exhibition's auction to help raise funds to build the State of Liberty's pedestal. The work takes the form of a classic Italian sonnet of fourteen line:
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land
to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall
stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her
name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild
eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities
frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your
poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the goldern door."
Although it cannot be said to have been in any way popular at the time of its appearance, its power was noticed, for it was occasionally printed in publications including the World and the New York Times, which ran the sonnet in October 1886 when the popularity of Liberty poems was particularly high. In 1887 (the year of Emma Lazarus's death), Ross Conway Stone quoted the sonnet in his book, A Way to See and Study the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. Impressed, he made this observation: 'As the navies of the world, guided by this light, pass by the mighty flambeau to our docks, the dullest star of lowliest immigrant is plainly told in the universal language of symbolism that he is in the land of liberty.' In 1888, 'The New Colossus' was included in The Poems of Emma Lazarus, published by Houghton Mifflin. The sonnet was largely forgotten afterward.
In about 1901, Georgina Schuyler, browsing in a bookshop, found an old book with the sonnet included in its text--possibly Stone's. She had known Emma Lazarus and was greatly touched by her late friend's poem. Schuyler, enlisting the aid of Richard Watson Gilder (another friend of Emma Lazarus), organized a civi effort toresurrect this lost work and bring it to public notice. She and her friend had it inscribed on a large bronze tablet and presented it in a formal ceremony to the army post commander at Bedloe's Island on 6 May 1903. It was mounted inside the pedestal for public display.
The sonnet was widely popularized in the late 1930s by such people as Louis Adamic and became even more popular during World War II. It was dramatically read in Hold Back the Dawn, a 1941 motion picture abut the plight of a refugee portrayed by French actor Charles Boyer. The tablet with 'The New Colossus' is currently mounted in the Statue of Liberty Exhibition gallery, Liberty Island." (pages 172 & 175)
Immigrants: The powerful impression that the Statue of Liberty left on millions of immigrants who enetered New York hrabor by steamship was an unexpected reward that would have made both Auguste Bartholdi and Edouard de Laboulaye proud. Although Bartholdi was deeply conscious of what he wanted the statue to look like from aboard ship, seeking a strong aesthetic impact at first glance, it is unlikely that he could have foretold its symbolism to immigrants. Their reactions to Liberty Enlightening the World were a mixture of wonder, awe, admiration, adoration, and even puzzlement, as these quotations show:
Some immigrants confused the Statue of Liberty with a Roman Catholic saint, proclaiming her "Santa Liberta," while others speculated whether she contained the tomb of Spain's explorer Christopher Columbus. Some were astonished and puzzled by her, while others had heard about the statue and were waiting for a glimpse. The Castle Garden and Ellis Island immigrant inspection stations came in the wake of Liberty's dignified welcome and left a bitter-sweet memory for millions who passed through to the states, towns, and rural districts of the United States (some to Canada), and to others who were rejected by immigration inspectors and returned by steamer to some foreign shore." (pages 117 & 119)
Primary Source Documents:
"A Chinese View of the Statue of Liberty," The American Missionary, January 1885.
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?coll=moa&root=/moa/amis/amis0039/&tif=00310.TIF&view=50&frames=1
Artifact: Statue of Liberty Hanukkah Lamp.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/haven-conclusion.html
Film: "The Statue of Liberty," Thomas A. Edison Inc. (1898).
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/papr/nychome.html
[Please type "Statue of Liberty" in "Search."]
Film: "The Immigrant," Charlie Chaplin (1917)
[DVD: See Chuck]
Secondary Source Documents:
Rudolph J. Vecoli, "The Lady and the Huddled Masses: The Statue of Liberty as a Symbol of Immigration" in The Statue of Liberty Revisited edited by Wilton S. Dillon & Neil G. Kotler.
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Documentary: "Statue of Liberty," Ken Burns.
[See Chuck}